Wednesday, 18 January 2017

New Year, New Beginnings...Dad's Garlic Salmon

Last Friday marked 36 weeks since we lost my father...time moves on and so am I...slowly but surely I find myself looking forward, resuming normal daily routines and re injecting structure into my life...and it feels good.

I find myself journeying through the grieving process, slowly discovering that somehow you manage to go on...that, as my father used to tell me, the sun will rise again, if not tomorrow - well then, it will surely rise the next day or the day after that.

Without realizing it, I become more like my mother with each passing day...gravitating towards soup recipes and bread-making. There is nothing more soothing than kneading a beautiful dough into a
scrumptious Challah, or piping pretty meringues. Not surprisingly, a large part of my healing process has involved my return to the kitchen to cook and bake, and getting lost in the familiar cooking smells...

And now I can begin to look back and lovingly recall days gone by with a warm heart and a smile on my face.

It is a new year and a new beginning...and the first recipe I want to share with you in 2017 is Dad's Garlic Salmon.

I worked with my father for 27 years. The last 9 years it was just the 2 of us in the office, and every day I would insist on eating food from home for lunch...NO MORE TAKE AWAY!! Religiously, day in and day out, I would bring in the previous dinner's leftovers...pasta, fish, chicken. Or I'd make us grilled cheese (hallelujah for sandwich makers) and soup.

After his bypass surgery, Dad started cooking for himself more, and every now and then he'd come up with a fantastic recipe. And so it was that one day he walked in the office and plopped down a big hunk of salmon wrapped in aluminum foil on my desk. Ugh...how that drove me crazy! "Put it in fridge!" I'd scold,,.and he would. When it came time for lunch I was stunned - it was the yummiest salmon ever!! Who knew my father was such a chef? He beamed as I praised his cooking, with a smile that went from ear to ear, proudly sharing his heart smart recipe with me. And he started buying larger pieces of salmon for his dinner, so there would always be enough leftovers to share with me for lunch the next day. Oh...and he did start putting the lunch directly in the fridge 😉.

So, from my family to yours, I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we do! Until next time, I wish you a wonderful week filled with family, fun, friends and fantastic food. B'Tayavon and Buon Appetito!

Dad's Garlic Salmon

Ingredients

1 lb salmon fillet

1-2 tbsp olive oil

4 tbsp crushed garlic (or more, to taste)

ground pepper to taste

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment. Rinse salmon and pat dry. Place on parchment and brush with olive oil. Coat salmon with black pepper and then with crushed garlic. Bake for 21 minutes. Serve with fresh lemon wedges.